The End
by Adalae
Summary: Not long after the Cullen family voted on Bella's fate, Alice had a startling vision. Now Edward is forced to decide, once and for all, if he wants to keep Bella...forever.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Ok, this is take two on the same story. This time I lengthened the first chapter so that you all would understand where I am going with this a little bit more. I think that the puny first chapter I had before was just horribly...short! But here it is, in all its glory. Thanks for the reviews before...keep them coming! Alright enjoy!!

He - the only "he" that ever mattered, and for eternity would - bent down to kiss my overly eager lips. Again, as if I expected a different response, my blood seemed to boil and my heart did a hundred little flips. My flung around his cold, marble neck and my leg - the one freshly healed from my close encounter with the death...or un-death - clasped itself around his waist, hugging his picture perfect form to mine. And almost immediately his once passionate lips turned to the too familiar stone and he yanked my embrace away from him.

"Bella..."he moaned, panting slightly and staring with a pained expression at my wild brown eyes.

I smiled a sheepish smile. "Yes Edward?" Today I was going to get more. No matter what.

He stood, leaving me on his black futon couch. He strolled over to his wall of CDs, hands dramatically on his hips.

"You truly test my strength on a daily basis. You realize this right? What if I lost control, Bella?"

"What if? You won't kill me, you know. You've done it before, you can handle it this time." I rose from the couch, infinitely less gracefully, and walked to his side. He instinctively put his cool hand to my cheek. We both listened to my pulse's reaction.

"Bella, we're not talking about this. I refuse to damn you. Please, can't you just accept that?"

Of course I couldn't. I had to try. I couldn't settle for a mere seventy years of this perfect heaven that I was so accustomed to falling asleep with and waking up to. I couldn't imagine any afterlife that could top this routine we had fallen into.

"We had a deal!" I cried, hot angry tears forming in my eyes. "You can't just-"

"Yes, I can," he interrupted. "And I will."

But before I could offer my well planned and thoroughly scripted rebuttal, Edward suddenly dropped his hand and glared at his bedroom door behind me.

"Come in."

I was all too used to his eerie habit of welcoming someone before they even knocked. I turned to see who it could be.

Alice, wearing a stone clad expression of utmost surprise, entered the room with a uncharacteristically staggered gait. Instead of her usual dancer-like steps she grasped at the wall for support as she glanced quickly between Edward and I. He was at her side more quickly than my weak human brain could process. But that isn't what startled me.

I knew from the glazed expression in her eyes that she had seen something. And whatever it was, it wasn't good.

"Edward..."she started, suddenly locking her gaze on me. For the first time since I had known her my heart turned to ice as if it were James in front of me. My mind flew without hesitation to the what I thought was the worst possible scenario: Victoria was hunting again and we were all back in danger; someone has figured out the Cullen family secret and plans to out them; Edward was going to the Volterra again. The list in my head grew more and more terrifying as the seconds ticked by.

I couldn't have been more wrong.

I knew in the precious seconds that slipped away that Edward was listening to everything that Alice's vision was about, and Alice was as close as a vampire could be to crying. Finally I broke the silence.

"Would anyone mind telling me what the hell is happening here?"

Edward's face was blank, void of all emotion. For the second time in fifteen seconds I shuddered involuntarily. Relapses of those unspeakable months reared their ugly heads and I shook myself of that; the hole was healing, slowly but surely, and there was no need to pick the scab that covered it.

He turned from me, as if I had said nothing, and picked up the shell-shocked Alice. With as much care as if she were as fragile as I, he placed her delicately on the couch, kneeling at her side and stroking her flawless face.

"Are you sure?" He seemed to beg for a mistake or omission in her non-verbal statement. She slowly nodded her head, still with her gaze locked on me.

I rushed to their side, tripping over thin air as usual, and sat on the couch. Looking between the two I decided that yelling would never get me anywhere and the longer that I was in the dark the more the hole threatened to bring me to my knees again. But before I could speak again, Edward interrogated her further.

"Why Alice? What happens before that? What is the reason behind this?" With each question Edwards voice had more of the deep growl that raised the small hairs on the back of my neck. Calmly I put my hand on his arm and he looked up at me with his timeless ocher eyes.

"Edward please. I know you're talking about me so I think I have a right to know what this is all about."

Alice, finally releasing her intent stare, turned to Edward to agree. "Edward she needs to know. It could change everything. It could save her...and us." My heart sank to my stomach. I tried to prepare myself for the worst, but I knew if Alice was as disturbed as she seemed to be that no amount of preparation could shield me.

I could see the internal deliberation going on in Edward's head. He seemed to weigh each and every option thoroughly in a fraction of the time it would take me, but it still seemed like a lifetime before he closed his eyes and said to me, "Jasper...is going to bite you."

The room spun for a half-second before I could hear Edward's troubled yet beautiful voice beckoning me. In that same half-second, I went from disbelief to excitement to excitement to utter fear.

True I wanted nothing more than to join what Edward referred to as the "damned" and "condemned" in order to spend the rest of my life loving him. And true I once said that I would find any way possible to make this happen. But it was also true that Jasper was the only other vampire, besides the sadistic James, to attack me with intent to kill. Jasper - the newest Cullen family addition - was the biggest threat in the household.

He was currently nearby hunting with Emmett and Rosalie. Jasper needed more feeding than the rest of the family; his thirst was immense and his control immature. The brief amount of time we spent together in Phoenix was not enough lessen his distance from me, and since my birthday he had mysteriously always been out of the house when I came around. I felt guilty and responsible for being the reason he left his own home day after day, but Alice and Edward constantly assured me that the day will come that he will conquer his thirst and control it as well as Edward could. I secretly hoped for the day more and more as the summer went on; I liked Jasper. I loved the entire Cullen family like my own. But being bitten by him would be a death wish, as far as I was concerned.

"But...but Alice. Alice why would he do that?" I struggled to hold on to my consciousness as the full impact of his statement took affect. Edward recognized the paler tint of my skin and sheen of preparation more quickly than anyone else could. He laid me softly on the carpet instructed me to close my eyes. I took a quick glance at his face, and my fears were confirmed.

The same look was back on his face, and I nearly broke then and there.

Alice righted herself, seeming to calm abruptly. Oddly enough so did I. Her eyes followed me as I first sat up, with Edward's hand on my back, and slowly pulled myself up onto the couch. "I don't know," she said, throwing her hands up into the air. "The vision was only of his...attack, not the situation beforehand. I don't know what it means or what happens after. I only know--" she broke off. Edward looked first at her and then they both glanced immediately at the doorway. My eyes trailed behind theirs to the door frame.

I, then, knew why I calmed down so quickly.

When I finally looked up, there stood Jasper - eyes glazed with the effort of holding the room's tension at bay.

After a few shocking seconds he broke the silence. "It's fine. I'll just stay here instead of going to Alaska with everyone. We all know that the future changes as decisions change," he said, with a quick wink and smile at Alice. "So why shouldn't I just, you know, change my mind?"

"He's right." I said, walking to his side and facing the others. I felt Jasper relax his control and to my surprise, no apprehension replaced the artificial calm. He stole a glance with what I thought was incredulity.

"This trip to Alaska," I said, "might be exactly what...sets everything off." The Cullens and I planned to spend a week in the frigid north to visit the Denali clan. I wasn't entirely ecstatic about cold, wet snow. But spending those long winter nights in a nice, cozy ski with Edward? Honestly I couldn't imagine a better week.

"Yeah, you should all go," Jasper said, "and I'll hold down fort. It'll be fine."

Edward had had enough by this point. Almost immediately his face turned to unyielding stone and his usual stubborn resoluteness. My heart sank as he began to speak.

"No. Bella and I will have to go somewhere alone for a while. That's the only way to keep her safe."

Well, I thought, I suppose I could live with that option, too. However I turned to a suddenly furious Jasper. His butterscotch eyes blazed and he issued his low, guttural growl.

He was staring directly at Edward, too infuriated to notice even Alice who came to his side.

"What do you want from me, Edward?" he spat, hands clinched at his side. I noticed then that I was pressed flat against the wall, knowing all too well how easily he could loose control. the last thing we needed was another long family separation of the Cullens.

"I have done NOTHING but support you in this...this...STUPIDITY that you have chosen to force us all to deal with. I listen to you, I defer to your every move and still you choose her over me!"

Shock spread over Edward's face. "Jasper - listen, you're not understanding me."

"You know Edward? I think for once in your life you are absolutely wrong. You see, I understand you completely."

With pure malice he turned toward me and pointed. "She is your family now, as far as I'm concerned. And I'm finally tired of it. Why don't you talk to me when you have time to love your weakling sweetheart, he said, as he turned from me to Alice, "and the family you've loved for a century."

He stormed from the room leaving Edward, Alice and I. After a few minutes Alice finally spoke.

"I have to -" she started.

"I know," said Edward, closing his eyes and running his hands through his beautiful chestnut hair. My heart shattered to see him hurt like this, and the tears ran hotly and viciously down my cheeks. Finally opened his eyes and rushed to my side, taking my now fully soaked face in his hands. Through racked sobs I pleaded with him.

"Please...j-just don't leave again. I don't c-care if I don't finish school. We c-can live together somewhere. You know, hide and it'll be f-fine...just don't go!" I collapsed in his arms and he wiped away every tear before he spoke again.

"You couldn't make me leave again, Bella. Nothing is going to separate us ever again so long as you live. I have to trust me when I say that. Not even my family can come in between us."

"But Edward," I started, coming to what few sense I had left, "you can't choose me over them. What about Carlisle? And Esme, she would be devastated. I love you...but I love them too."

That seemed to rock his reserve a little. For a minute anyway.

"Well if they have a problem with my decisions then they have a problem with me. No one is going to change you..."

He flew from the room then, to follow Alice and Jasper I presumed, and left me to my thoughts and conflicting emotions.

On the one hand I was terrified of what Jasper could, and very well might, do to me. I was no stranger to pain and it had never been on my top list of things to experience repeatedly. Even the relatively small gash on my hand from James' bite was enough to rock my world; how could I ever handle three days of devastating torture?

But on the other hand...an eternity with the family that had become my own sounded like an eternity of unadulterated happiness. I couldn't imagine what spending every moment of my life with Edward would be like, but I knew that it was something I wanted above all else.

My reverie, however, was cut short. I could hear, with my weak human ears, someone running down the hallway. I expected my beautiful god-like Edward to bound through the doorway. But it wasn't the case whatsoever. And I would've taken any encounter with James _and_ Victoria over the shock that paralyzed me and planted my feet exactly where Edward left me.

Jasper, it seemed, never left at all.

And Jasper, I realized almost too late, wasn't planning on changing his mind either...


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Ok! Here we go with another chapter. I can't promise it won't end in a cliffie like the other one...but hopefully this time I'll be able to update more quickly! And I promise to watch my grammar & spelling :)**

**Alrighty, enjoy!**

_And Jasper, I realized almost too late, wasn't planning on changing his mind either..._

"You didn't think I was going to leave this place that easily did you?" Jasper said with a face full of so much uncharacteristic venom I could barely recognize him.

Without giving me time to respond, he began to walk, slowly and menacingly, toward me. I couldn't get my legs to understand that there could be no good in standing where I was; they refused to move and my throat closed up as well. My body was working against me, yet again, and there was nothing I could do about it. Instantly the scene of my first trip to Port Angeles flashed through my head; there was no difference between those vicious men and the vampire before me.

At that moment I wished for Edward harder than I have ever wished for him before.

"Ah, Bella. Do you remember the first time we met? Ever since I _first_ laid eyes on you at that damned school I knew you would be trouble. I never told anyone, and I'm sure even Edward forgot that I was capable of this, but I could feel exactly what Edward felt when he saw you in that cafeteria. And let me assure you, if I were...alive, I would've blushed. Never before had I felt such a sexual physical and, umm, blood attraction, if you will. It was amazing, and scary as hell."

I listened with rapt attention. I couldn't think of how to get out of this room. All that ran through my head was _"where are Alice and Edward? Don't they know he's still here by now?"_. Of course I couldn't hide this panic and a sick, sadistic grin flashed across Jasper's once kindly face.

"Oh, there's the fear I was looking for. And to think, it only took you a minute or so. I would've thought indominable Bella, she who romps around with a family of vampires, she who once stood feet from the oldest vampire family in existence, she who befriends werewolves on a regular basis, would've stood there fearless for a little bit longer. But, eh, Edward's the one that is always right..."

And as if Jasper had just remembered his purpose again, the malice took its place in his eyes and I knew my time was running out. Whatever his agenda was, he was preparing to follow it through.

He bounded toward me with mind-blowing speed. "He is the reason we're so separated! He's the reason Rosalie and Emmett aren't around so much. It's HIS fault I can't be in my own family's house for more than a day or two. He's always bringing _you_ around. And heaven forbid we hurt the _precious_ human. Well I'm SICK of it!"

He grabbed my shoulders and stared deeper into my eyes than anyone ever has. Finally everything clicked into place. I understood why he was angry, why he came back, and why he was standing in front of me now.

He smiled that disgusting smile again. "Well, well Bella! Is that excitement I feel? Is this what you want? Because I can strike a deal with you. We'll both get everything we want."

I took the bait.

"Wh-what do you mean?"

"Changing you, of course. Don't you see? If you're not the weak little human, then I can stay here. I don't have to worry about breaking draining your scrawny little body if you get too close. It makes sense! Even Carlisle agrees."

"But Edward...He'd be so angry with me..."

"To hell with Edward! He doesn't know everything! Don't you want to spend forever with him? Isn't that what you've always wanted?"

I faltered. Of course that's what I wanted. I'd dreamed of an opportunity like this for longer than I could account for.

But Jasper?

In my mind it would always be Edward that would do it. Because I wanted his...permission, I suppose. Really I wanted his blessing in the whole ordeal. Because without his total agreement, what would the change be for? I thought it was only fair to ask approval from the person I would be spending all of eternity with.

But Jasper?

The self same Jasper that had only months before jeopardized my life? Jasper who could hardly be in the same _building_ with my blood, let alone attempt to open my flesh and spill just a little of it?

Nothing could make the room stop spinning. The only thing keeping my feet firmly on the ground was the fact that he still had a tough hold on me.

Suddenly, he loosened his grip and did an about-face toward the doorway. He could hear something I couldn't; that much I could tell immediately. I felt I should try to get away, but even a loosened vampiric grip is more than I can handle.

"I've wasted too much time...You can't think about this much longer. He's running up the front steps now. Yes or no, Bella. Make your decision now."

I closed my eyes and a million decisions plagued my intuition all at once.

When I opened them half a second later, resolve flowed through my entire body.

"Do it." I said, in a voice I hardly recognized as my own.

He grinned destructively and raised my arm to his mouth.

I tried to disconnect myself from the pain I anticipated.

There was nothing that could've prepared me.

His teeth sunk through my skin...nerves...muscle...

I screamed and thrashed and cried.

I knew I was going to die...and I would never see my love again. I could feel him draining me, and I knew he couldn't stop.

My eyes fluttered...Consciousness began to flit away...

I heard my angel's voice...screaming in misery, growling in unrivaled rage.

Pressure was released from my arm and I fell...but I knew there was nothing he could do.

Something in the very core of my spirit that he could hear me...if I spoke to his mind. Something told me it was the only way to say goodbye.

_Edward. I'm sorry, but this is what I wanted. Don't blame him, Edward. He loves you. I love you, and I always will...Be safe..._

Blackness conquered all.

All except the tormenting pain of the body and soul...


End file.
